Being Yourself

By Women of Faith

Women of Faith, renowned for their unique combination of personality and truth, offer fresh new messages in four new topical study guides in the popular Women of Faith Study Guide Series.

Each study guide, teeming with insights and quotes from the conference speakers provides twelve weeks of Bible study and a leader's guide for small groups.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Jan 9, 2008
• ISBN: 9781418566036

Book preview

BEING YOURSELF

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© 2008 Margaret Feinberg

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from The Holy Bible, The New King James Version (NKJV®). © 1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-1-4185-2936-9

Printed in China

08 09 10 11 12 MT 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Just As You Are

1 You Are God’s Delight

2 You Are God’s Handiwork

3 You Are Wonderfully Unique

The Power of Being Yourself

4 You Reflect God’s Beautiful Design

5 You Will Set Others Free to Be Themselves

6 You Help Fulfill God’s Great Purpose

Knowing Yourself

7 Aware of Your Triggers

8 Playing to Your Strengths

9 Your Greatest Strength, Your Greatest Weakness

The Fruit of Being Yourself

10 Developing God-Esteem

11 Radiating the Joy-Filled Life

12 Loving Others Unconditionally

Leader’s Guide

Foreword

At the age of sixty-three, the great American poet E.E. Cummings wrote a letter in which he said, To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. I’m not sure of the source of this quote, but I am sure of the truth of it. Being yourself takes stamina, grit, and a great deal of self-assurance.

When I first began speaking publicly, I remember being exceedingly uncomfortable. I was encouraged by a handful of friends who felt I’d do well, but to me it was out of my comfort zone. I was enjoying a career with Mobil Oil Corporation at the time, but to stand up and speak to a crowd was scary and out-of-place for me. I could joke around, be a clown, tell a story . . . but give a speech? No way. When I finally gave in to the wooing of God’s Spirit and urging of my friends, I devised a little plan I thought would work: I’ll be like my brother, Chuck. He’s a wonderful speaker—well loved, totally prepared, and explaining Scripture right and left. So off I went into the wild, blue yonder trying to be someone I wasn’t. I don’t know how I thought I’d pull this off because I was neither seminary trained nor as scholarly as my brother, but I gave it a try, thinking it would be easier than being myself. The opposite happened. I was stressed, worn out, and totally uncomfortable!

In a matter of months, the Lord spoke to me in my spirit about my duplicity. He made it clear that He didn’t want me to be Chuck. He wanted me to be me! It was as though He said very clearly, Don’t be a teacher, Luci. Tell stories, be a clown, and share your faith in your own way. Just be you. I want you to talk to people like you’re visiting with them in your living room. So before long, I stopped fighting the battle Cummings wrote about, and let go of all that effort to be my brother. I relaxed . . . and public speaking became not only fun but one of the ways God showed me it was okay to be myself.

Sometime later, I told Chuck about this encounter with God and what I thought about it. He said something I’ll never forget—Sis, one of the most liberating things in the world is to know yourself, like yourself, and be yourself. It’s life changing. Indeed it is.

Ironically, about a year ago, after I had spoken at a Women of Faith conference, an attendee stopped me on my way out of the arena and said, Luci, I really enjoyed your message this afternoon. It was very encouraging . . . kind of like you were visiting with me in your living room. I loved that.

Check out this little book and see if you can find yourself between the pages.

—LUCI SWINDOLL

Introduction

Answering One of Life’s

Toughest Questions

Jesus said to him, "If I will that he remain till I

come, what is that to you? You follow Me."

JOHN 21:22, NKJV

Who are you? It’s one of the simplest but most difficult questions for anyone to answer. Most people spend their lifetime trying to figure out who they really are. Some of their efforts are healthy and rewarding, but others can be dangerous and even destructive. As a follower of Jesus, you don’t have to spend years wondering who you really are! You get to go straight to the source—God—to discover not only who you